The Other Side of Kerala

Despite the widespread criticism from various quarters, the Communist government in state of Kerala has passed the controversial Kerala Police Act Amendment ordinance, which makes expressing, publishing or disseminating any matter that is threatening, abusive, humiliating or defamatory a punishable offence with imprisonment for up to three years.

Last month, the state cabinet had decided to give more teeth to the Police Act by recommending the addition of Section 118-A. This replaces the now-defunct Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which made posting ‘offensive’ comments online a punishable crime.

The addition stipulates either imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to Rs 10,000 or both to those who produce, publish or disseminate content through any means of communication with an intention to intimidate, insult or defame any person through social media.

“Whoever makes, expresses, publishes or disseminates through any kind of mode of communication, any matter or subject for threatening, abusing humiliating or defaming a person or class of persons, knowing it to be false and that causes injury to the mind, reputation or property of such person or class of persons or any other person in whom they interest shall on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine which may extend to Rs 10,000 or with both," reads the new section 118 A.

While Section 66A (punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service) of the IT Act was a cognizable and non-bailable offence, the 118-A is a cognizable and bailable offence.

The amendment would give more power to the police and also curtail the freedom of the press.

Experts disagreed with Kerala’s move, and have cautioned against it.

When the Supreme Court struck down Section 66A of the IT Act and Section 118D of the Kerala Police Act, it held speech to a standard where advocacy is fine but incitement to violence is not. The communist led Kerala government would do well to not impose such draconian considerations on citizens, and learn from the mistakes they made with Section 118-D.

Source and complete news: TNM, Scroll

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Kerala: Women Activists Physically Thrash YouTuber and Chief Minister Supports Them

A dubbing artiste and two other women barged into the residence of a Kerala YouTuber, beat him up and elicited an apology on live video, before seizing his laptop and handing it over to the cops.
One day after the episode in Thiruvananthapuram, artiste Bhagyalakshmi, and activists Sreelakshmi Arakkal and Diya Sana, Sunday won the strong backing of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Health and Social Justice Minister K K Shailaja, as well as a wide section of civil society.
Bearing the brunt of the women’s fury was YouTuber Vijay P Nair, known to upload videos with derogatory and sexually explicit comments on his channel. He was slapped, doused with motor oil and made to apologise on a Facebook Live video. Source: IE

While proper action should be taken against people who use vulgarity or make derogatory remarks on anyone, within the purview of freedom of speech, it is not a symbol of a developed society that people should take law in their own hands and openly thrash people they do not like. What is further shameful in this incident is that even the Chief Minister of the state has given support to the women activists who took the law in their own hand and used violence means to make their point; when the case is already in Police. This is Kerala's shame.

Sunday, September 6, 2020

Covid-19 patient raped by ambulance driver in Kerala

A coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patient was allegedly sexually assaulted by an ambulance driver in central Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district on the way to a hospital on Saturday night, officials said.

Police said the suspect was arrested within hours of the crime, which has triggered an outrage and a political bickering in the Left-ruled state.

Two women from a family tested Covid-19 positive on Saturday evening and they were taken to a health facility in an ambulance, police said. There were no family members in the vehicle in accordance with protocols laid down by the Kerala government.

While one of them was admitted to a dedicated Covid-19 facility, authorities advised the ambulance driver to take the second woman to another hospital --- just around 4km away.

But the driver took a detour and drove about 18km. On the way, he stopped the ambulance at a desolate place and raped the 22-year-old patient inside the vehicle, police said.

The driver threatened the woman with dire consequences if she spoke up. The woman told doctors about the incident upon being admitted to a hospital. Later, a medical examination confirmed the sexual assault.

State health and family welfare minister KK Shailaja called the incident “inhuman” and said “it should not have been happened”.

Police found that the 29-year-old suspect was involved in several criminal cases in the past, including a murder attempt.

Source: HT